EXETER, N.H. — Any New Hampshire voters pining away for a more charismatic contender in their Republican primary may have had a few pangs Sunday night if they were in Exeter.

New JerseyGov. Chris Christie, who resisted repeated entreaties to jump into the 2012 presidential race, joined New Hampshire front-runner Mitt Romney on stage at Exeter High School – and was soon competing for attention with hecklers shouting “Mitt kills jobs.”

Christie kept going: "If she wasn't so blinded by her Barack Obama-induced anger, she'd know that American jobs are coming back when Mitt Romney is the next president of the United States!"

Bam! Mr. Romney stood nearby, smiling. When interrupted by rudeness, that’s what he usually does – wait until security escorts the shouters from the hall, and then applaud the American tradition of free speech.

But while no one in the gym ripped off their Romney stickers and rushed the stage for one last attempt to get Christie into the race, that may have crossed a few minds. Certainly, the genteel one had been upstaged.

“I thought Mitt Romney was well-spoken and handled the hecklers well,” said one primary voter. “Chris Christie was better-spoken,” she continued, declining to give her name.